Local SEO trends in 2015

When Google’s first local algorithm ‘Pigeon’ rolled-out globally last December, search engines suddenly became aware of the “local factors” behind user queries, which brought a significant change in all search results. For example, When searching for a general term like “cafe”, Google automatically started to display the cafes that are close to the location where users are doing their search, resulting in local results appearing on the map even before the organic results hit the search page. This change represents a real challenge for web professionals, small and medium sized local businesses as the focus of the new algorithm became narrower. In this article, we will present a brief overview of local SEO trends in 2015 and a few tips on how to cope with the new changes.

First, let me tell you about the significance and challenge of this new paradigm and what advantages lying ahead for your business if those challenges are met with a right strategy.

The challenge

Google’s Pigeon algorithm has brought in dramatic changes in the appearance and order of geolocalized queries. Many businesses found that their sites’ search page ranking went down in favor of local directories. This points out the importance of a user’s business location when conducting a search as Google Maps has updated its guidelines for local pages as well. Search results became more relevant and interactive for some categories such as hotels and restaurants. They are no longer represented by a series of images but advanced options like the opportunity to book a hotel directly from the results pages has taken its place. According to the official statistics of 2014, consumers showed a local intent in their searches and preferred to act more interactively following their queries. Please see the infographics for more information.

Before implementing a local marketing strategy, you should know why this could be difficult despite deploying significant financial resources. In reality, you don’t have any control over factors like the location of your business. For example, If your business is located in a suburb but your competitors’ location is in downtown, that could be a significant barrier for your website as the “centroid proximity” principle – one of the most important ranking factors in the local algorithm – tends to favor businesses close to the city centre.

The advantage

However, against all odd of the changing SEO scenario, implementing a local SEO strategy will help you increase your visibility in the net and get a better ranking in search results which in turn result in generating traffic both on your site, establishing your brand’s recognition, high ROI and increased conversions.

The solution

A winning local SEO strategy must include the following actions…

Mobile Optimization The rise of local SEO is closely linked to the phenomenal rise of mobile computing in recent years. More recently, Google officially added mobile ranking factors to its new algorithm, which was officially launched on April 21st. They have been issuing frequent alerts via Webmaster Tools to inform business web site owners that their websites are not “mobile-friendly”. Since most queries are made from a mobile device now a days, it is now crucial that your site is optimized for mobile in two ways:

First, make your site is responsive so that it’s content fit any device and screen size.

Second, When designing your site, you should highlight useful information for the consumers.

Third, add some interactivity such as featuring a “Click-To-Call” extension so that users can contact you instantly.

“On-Page” Optimization Add “geo-localizable” content such as your city or region to your site’s most important HTML elements – URLs, Meta Description, Title tags, Alt Text images tags and H1 tags. To make sure that Google really understands your location, add your company name, address and phone number to each page’s footer. In addition, create a “Geo Sitemap” and a KML file.

“Off-page” optimization For strong local presence, it is crucial to achieve citations and mentions of your business on other web sites containing your contact information as much as possible. Register your business I.D. in all reliable local business directories and commerce listings for niche markets. Be consistent in the address details as variation in the format could negatively impact your positioning in local Google ranking.

Social Signals optimization through increased community Feedback You can arrange your local ranking signals not depending on you but rather on consumers and Internet users. For examples, comments, ratings, reviews and discussions about your company and your products and services, etc. You can’t control these factors directly or direct what people may say about you, but you can strongly encourage and facilitate discussions, critics and comments about your brand via your site, social accounts and email campaigns along with a consistent reputation management scheme to make sure each negative comment get an answer. Add rating buttons on the site so that your visitors can rate your products or services on public directories.

Optimize your Google My Business page by making sure it is fully up-to-date with right products/services category, pictures and customized descriptions. Be present on all major social platforms, add social sharing icons on your site and use these profiles to encourage comments. Make sure to use geo-localized key words in your social content.

Having a diversified profile of community feedback about your business will help you better perform in local search engine results – a very important criteria for Google who values user generated content most.

Conclusion

So in summary, the key to be one step ahead of your competition in 2015 will mostly depend on 3 actions: A mobile-friendly responsive website, optimized local SEO and most importantly, a watchful eye on Google announcements.

About ECA Ray

Ray is a manager at ECA Tech Inc. , Toronto's top Ecommerce software, website development and digital marketing company. He has been a programmer for 28 years. He has some good experience in integrating designs to various software. He has volunteered in numerous IT related free training courses all over North America and contributes articles on numerous blogs. He also participates in continued education classes at local colleges.

Recent Comments

Recently I needed a HTML5 interactive animation app for a trade-show booth. I had a very hard time finding a company who could do what I needed. The ones who could asked for very high rates until I found DTW. They did an amazing job though there were some little caveats which is to be expected as not all browsers render HTML5 the same way. Delivered App was great for our purpose however. Customer service relations was good and professional throughout the process. Highly recommend these talented guys.read more

Lisa R. Crippen

14:31 05 Jul 17

I have a Magento website to sell bread and desserts online. As my bakery only deliver to certain areas we needed a custom extension to handle our delivery system/charges. My original developer built the site okay but failed to customise it according to my specific needs. I looked high and low and found DTW team. So far they have well exceeded my expectations. Highly recommend DTW to Magento website owners.read more

james joe

20:27 07 Apr 17

Our Wordpress site got hacked a couple weeks ago and our webhost suspended the website because of malware. A good friend referred us to DTW and we are glad that he did. DTW downloaded the infected site, upgraded the wp version then pulled the theme and database out of the wp install and put in a new install of Wordpress to make sure there are no hidden hack codes anywhere and all in a very little time and budget. They have earned our loyalty.read more

Edward Bennett

03:14 05 Apr 17

I run a small home-renovation company. I have a little bit of programming knowledge so I had built a Wordpress website myself and installed some plugins. Site was not too bad. However, I soon figured out I could not get the plugins to do exactly what I need and my programming skill was not good enough to write a custom plugin myself. So I Googled for Wordpress web developers and I found DTW. They built me a custom plugin that helps my employees log their time into the system so I can send out invoices to customers through emails. They also helped me to speed up the site load-time. Even though I never met with the team in person, they were in constant communication through email, phone and web conferences throughout the development process. I am very happy with them and highly recommend to anyone who needs help with their Wordpress websites. I will get my Quickbooks plugin built by them as soon as I can create a budget for it. Thank you DTW.read more

Frank William

06:20 10 Jan 17

I run a small printing company and initially hired a company from China to add an online printing price calculator to our website. After trying to deliver for months they failed is when I hired DTW to do the same task plus to put our entire static website in Drupal as my research said it would be the best CMS for such demanding work. DTW has made us a mobile responsive website that does the calculation according to the formula I provided them with perfectly! It took longer than anticipated as the price calculating formula was much more complex than it looked also as we changed the formula quite a bit along the way but we are very happy with the outcome. I highly recommend DTW for any custom mathematical widget or extension for Drupal.read more

Dutch Bildrman

08:23 05 Sep 17

I am a skilled tradesman and normally, I get all my business through referrals. Since I don't get a lot of my customers asking to see samples of my previous work, I thought it may be best to put them on a website so I can show them to the refers as well as maybe get some new business. I found DTW by searching on Google. I contacted a gentleman named Ray who was a tremendous help. Not only did they built me a nice but inexpensive Wordpress website, Ray also took the time to teach me how to market myself over the Internet. I was previously clueless as to how it all worked. Very helpful guys! Two thumbs up!read more

Sharon Brown

17:47 29 Aug 17

Design Toronto web is totally rad. We have an old Joomla 1.5 site that uses a web service to acquire current rates from a local bank API. We needed to add couple more dynamic pages to the site but to our surprise, first few companies we hired failed to deliver. Turns out it's not such a simple task after all like we thought and php version used being obsolete adds to the complexity so only very few well qualified companies could do these type of work. We found among the few companies we contacted that the Design Toronto Web team was the most affordable. They completed the task successfully and on time. We will be engaging their services for sure when we want to upgrade our Joomla version to the latest one. They are top of the line and I'll recommend them any time of day!read more

Angel Marina

05:39 03 Dec 16

DTW team is really good. My site was seriously outdated and used a very old version of Joomla, however, had quite a few custom extensions to display custom data that I have collected over years. DTW developers upgraded Joomla to the latest and upgraded all the extensions including the custom ones. Throughout the project they communicated the issues with me very well. Thanks to have found this team of Joomla experts. They have earned my loyalty.read more

Charles Williams

22:42 29 Jul 19

Working with the Design Toronto Web has been a most pleasant experience! Their dedication and passion for what they do is exemplified by their unrivaled customer support and attentiveness to the specific needs of our business. We look forward to a long lasting and prosperous relationship with Design Toronto Web.read more

Richard Sullivan

09:56 30 Jul 19

"Whenever we’ve had ideas, they do some research and come up with a solution that better fits my business." ..."